8 years

As of today, I've been married for 8 years.

And, a marriage is exactly what we have.  We love, we live, we cry, we laugh, we are.  Together we have celebrated and mourned.

We like board games and hiking, we bicker over who should do the "handwashes" after dinner.

We have a 2 year old son.  He calls us "Mama and Mommy".  When he is referring to both of us he sometimes calls us "Mema".  He calls himself "Aye-Aye".

We've been up in the middle of the night with him when he's been sick.  We've been up with each other in the middle of the night when one of us can't sleep.

Sometimes, if I have a nightmare, I wake up my wife.  She reassures me that everything is okay.

We try to get to church together regularly, that is, when I'm not the one "in charge".

When my mom died, my wife was there for me.  When my wife mourns the grandfather our son will never know, I am there.

Life is good.

And, when the whole country seems to be debating whether or not we can get married, well on some level, it seems meaningless.

You see, we've been married 8 years.